Welcome to Critical Mass, Law.com's weekly briefing for class action and mass tort attorneys. I've got a roundup of COVID-19 lawsuits over quarantined cruise ships, Purell health claims and stock drops. Also, what two appeals court decisions could mean for cases alleging Bristol-Myers applied to class actions.

Feel free to reach out to me with your input. You can email me at [email protected], or follow me on Twitter: @abronstadlaw.

COVID-19 Cases Hit the Courts

The coronavirus outbreak has spawned lawsuits—and mass torts and class actions are no exception. Here's a roundup of some of the lawsuits, plus how COVID-19 has impacted some pending cases:

Consumer Class Actions

>>Class actions were filed against two makers of hand sanitizers over the health claims of their products. The class actions, filed this month, follow the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Jan. 17 warning against Purell maker GoJo Industries to halt marketing claims that its product prevented ebola or the flu. Thrasher Dinsmore & Dolan, Shapiro Haber & Urmy, and Schubert Jonckheer & Kolbe filed the Purell case, while Kazerouni Law Group brought the case against Germ-X, which has advertised that its products prevent coronavirus.

>>A class action filed on Tuesday against Bank of America seeks to halt foreclosures in West Virginia amid the coronavirus outbreak. The lawsuit comes as the state of California and several cities, states and courts, as well as some U.S. lawmakers, have moved to temporarily ban evictions and foreclosures.

Mass Torts

>>Lawyers in a class action on behalf of opioid-addicted babies against several pharmaceutical companies sought a 60-day stay of upcoming deposition deadlines for expert witnesses due to "significant obstacles created by the COVID-19 response," including limits on travel and personal contact, according to a stipulation filed on Friday. Expert witnesses, originally scheduled for depositions through April 8, also could be ill or involved in handling the pandemic's response, lawyers wrote.

>>A West Virginia judge overseeing asbestos lawsuits issued a March 11 order encouraging settlements in light of the "fear factor connected to the coronavirus outbreak." Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Ronald Wilson said he had not yet rescheduled trials for May or June but, he wrote, "if the 'fear contagion' continues to grow then it is unlikely that jury trials will take place." West Virginia reported its first coronavirus case on Tuesday, making COVID-19 present in all 50 states.

>>At least six lawsuits have been filed on behalf of passengers of the Grand Princess cruise line, which quarantined 3,500 passengers last week off the coast of California, 21 of whom tested positive for coronavirus. Chalik & Chalik Injury Lawyers filed five of the cases, and Mikal Watts (Watts Guerra) filed one on Friday.

Shareholder Suits:

>>Berger Montague and Block & Leviton filed a shareholder class action on March 12 against Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. and its CEO, J. Joseph Kim, over statements last month claiming the biotech firm had developed a COVID-19 vaccine in three hours. On March 9, a short seller revealed the statements to be false, sending Inovio shares tumbling in a single day from $18.72 to $5.70 per share.

>>Investors represented by The Rosen Law Firm filed a class action against Norwegian Cruise Lines after a March 11 article in the Miami New Times, and subsequent Washington Post news story, revealed the company had encouraged its sales representatives to lie to passengers about potential exposure to the coronavirus. The news sent shares plummeting, according to the March 12 complaint.

Appeals Courts Say Bristol-Myers Doesn't Belong

Last week, the first appeals court decisions came out over whether the U.S. Supreme Court's 2017 decision in Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of California applied to class actions. The D.C. Circuit found that Whole Foods' argument was procedural premature, while the Seventh Circuit sided against IQVIA in refusing to adopt what it called a "major change in the law."

I reached out to Matt Wessler (Gupta Wessler), who represented the plaintiff in the D.C. case and the American Association for Justice as an amicus group in the Seventh Circuit. He said:

"I don't think it's the end of the matter, but it does suggest that the lower courts are disinclined to want to aggressively interpret Bristol-Myers in a different context in a way that would upset federal class action practice."

Who Got the Work?

Keith Smith (Greenberg Traurig), appeared last week before the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to represent the maker of DevaCurl hair care products. Deva Concepts, based in New York, faces about a dozen consumer class actions alleging its products, designed for curly hair, cause scalp irritation and hair loss.

Here's what else is happening:

Perfect Pause: Mass Torts Made Perfect canceled its April 22 biannual conference in Las Vegas due to the coronavirus. "Twenty years ago, we founded MTMP as our effort to bring the mass torts bar together, in an inclusive manner, so that collectively, we could organize, strategize, and marshal our resources to protect our clients from the abuses of corporations and other defendants who place money and greed above the public health, safety and welfare," wrote Mike Papantonio and Mark Proctor (Levin Papantonio) in a statement. "Now, we face one of the biggest challenges in the coronavirus that mankind has seen in our lifetime, and we must band together to protect ourselves, our neighbors and friends from its potential ravages."

Monsanto Challenged: Plaintiffs' lawyers defended an $80 million Roundup verdict before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, where Bayer's Monsanto has raised challenges including federal preemption and improper causation experts. Monday's brief, by lawyers at Public Justice, Andrus Wagstaff and Moore Law Group, also challenged U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria's reduction of the jury's $75 million in punitive damages to $20 million.

Seed Spread: And now for some good news—at least, for farmers. The first payments to come out of the $1.51 billion class action settlement of Syngenta's genetically modified corn seed will be mailed out March 20. Most farmers will get more than $5,000, according to plaintiffs' attorneys Patrick Stueve (Stueve Siegel Hanson), Dan Gustafson (Gustafson Gluek) and Chris Seeger (Seeger Weiss). "This brings meaningful relief to a long and hard-fought battle," they said. "We are gratified that the hundreds of thousands of class members will be compensated for their losses, and we hope these payments help the many farmers who are hurting economically."

Thanks for reading Critical Mass. Please stay safe and healthy. I will be back next week!